Mamdani getting it from the left and right

To the editor:

While I disagree with some of Mayor Zohan Mamdani's positions, overall, he shows promise of being an improvement over many past mayors.

     But he's drawn criticism for his tendency to show fair-mindedness and logic as opposed to kowtowing to rigid thinkers.

     The Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas against Israel was inexcusable terrorism. Likewise, Israel's killing of Palestinians both before and after as well as stealing of land in the West Bank is also inexcusable.

The continued killings in Gaza are not only disproportionate, but have continued long after Israel won that war.

     Whether or not Israel's actions are genocide is an argument of semantics. But the mass killings are wrong.

But many label any criticism of Israel's government antisemitic. This is nonsense. Criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu is not criticism of me.

     Likewise, fanatics on the Palestinian side claim that Mamdani's criticism of Hamas for the terrorist attack makes him guilty of genocide. Both sides' extremists are insane.

     Mamdani has also faced irrational criticism because he appreciates Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch for "uprooting corruption in the upper echelons of the NYPD" and a drop in murders and shootings. But the NYC-Democratic Socialists of America criticize her for not doing something that neither she nor the mayor have the power to do, kick ICE out of New York City.

     Yet when the mayor announces increased funding for the NYPD's inspector general to increase accountability when officers are accused of misconduct, he gets criticism from the police union.

     I doubt Mamdani is a big Kinks fan like me. But if by chance he is, perhaps he is now thinking of the words of their leader, Ray Davies:

"You're in the middle while the big mouths fight/You get it from the left and the right ain't it crazy."

— Richard Warren